The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of Senecio plant, which is hereinafter referred to as ‘Sunsenebubakai’.
A Senecio cruentus (Masson ex L'Hér.) DC. is a very popular plant that is used in flower bedding and potting in the winter and spring seasons.
The purpose of this invention is to obtain a new Senecio cultivar with abundant and large sized petals having blue and white-bicolored ray floerts, and an upright and medium sized appearance.
The new Senecio plant originated from cross-pollination of the female parent ‘09-83’ and the male parent ‘09-09’. The female parent ‘09-83’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunsenebubakai’ is a strain of the applicant's breeding lines (i.e., proprietary Senecio selection), having white petals, and the male parent ‘09-09’ (unpatented) used in the crossing of ‘Sunsenebubakai’ is a strain of the applicant's breeding lines (i.e., proprietary Senecio selection), having light blue and pink-bicolored petals. The cross-pollination was conducted in March, 2010, at Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan.
In February 2011, the seedlings obtained by the crossing were planted in a field, and some seedlings were selected in view of growth habit, flower size and color thereof. Shortly thereafter stem tip culturing was carried out, and then the propagation was started.
In November 2013, the cultivation of the seedlings was repeated. The botanical characteristics of that plant were then examined, using similar variety ‘Sunsenebuba’ for comparison. As a result, it was concluded that this Senecio plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known, and has uniform and stable characteristics.
The new variety of Senecio plant was then named ‘Sunsenebubakai’.